E-books are the convenient way to reap the benefits of reading without the inconveniences of relying on hard copies. Not only convenient, they’re also super accessible, making a nearly unlimited selection of books available to you.

Let’s take a closer peek at all of the benefits these e-books offer language learners, and then we’ll show you the nine best websites for finding Chinese e-books.

Why Should I Use Chinese E-books to Improve My Chinese?

They’re affordable. There are many free e-books available online, and most of those that are not free are still very inexpensive compared to hard copy books. Many public libraries even have digital libraries now, where you can check out e-books for a period of time for free, just as you would with a hard copy.

They’re convenient. You can take your books with you anywhere, on an e-reader, laptop or even smartphone, and read while you commute. Highlight unknown words to copy and paste them into online dictionaries, or copy and paste new words and phrases into a notebook app like Evernote or Apple’s Notes.

They provide in-context learning. Regular reading practice reviews words you already know, helping to ingrain them in your memory. Reading also pushes you to learn new words, idioms and expressions in context, which is more memorable than studying from plain lists. Additionally, e-books can be published faster than paper books, which allows for the most current information to be read and used for learning.

They get you familiar with written forms. Reading will teach you written Chinese, which is more formal than spoken and conversational Chinese. The newest e-books demonstrate written forms that are most popular today. Seeing the written forms will also teach you sentence flow and structure, helping you internalize grammar.

Better yet, if you get hooked on an e-book series, like a romance or martial arts epic, you’ll keep coming back for more, building an excellent habit of reading Chinese. So, where can you find e-books in Chinese?

9 Awesome Websites to Find and Download Chinese E-books

Weibo Books offers an excellent selection of world-renowned publications that have been translated into Chinese, as well as original Chinese language books. Interesting categories on their site include books by celebrity authors 明星作家 (míng xīng zuò jiā), newest releases 新书上架 (xīn shū shàng jià) and Asia’s most popular book rankings 亚洲好书榜 (yà zhōu hǎo shū bǎng).

When you click into any book, you’ll see an overview page with book summary and readers’ ratings. Click 去阅读 (qù yuè dú) to buy and read online (this requires a Weibo account, but it’s free to sign up for one), or click 去购买 (qù gòu mǎi) to purchase a hard copy version.

Interesting stats are provided for every book, including: 浏览 (líu lǎn), the number of people who’ve browsed this book; 赞 (zàn), the number who’ve liked it; and 热议 (rè yì), the number who’ve commented.

“知更鸟女孩 (zhī gēng niǎo nǚ hái — Mockingbird)” by Chuck Wendig — An orphan girl can foresee who will die in the near future. She keeps a “death list” in a notebook and wanders the city in search of those whose time is coming up.

QiDian Books offers a massive selection of online e-books. Unlike Weibo Books, not all of these are published offline. Check out their featured categories for famous authors名家作品 (míng jiā zuò pǐn), and featured lists like all-time most popular books, 原创风云榜 (yuán chuàng fēng yún bǎng).

Click into any book to see 内容介绍 (nèi róng jiè shào), a synopsis. You can get e-book versions for iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows and HTML5.

Recommended reads:

“傲雪剑豪 (ào xuě jiàn háo — The Snow Sword Hero” by Dan Ruo Ci — An ordinary martial arts fighter from Northern China discovers the truth about his mysterious past. At the same time trouble is brewing in the Western Regions, and a conspiracy is underway to topple the authorities of the Central Plain. (An kind of ancient-Chinese “mafia wars” story!)

Amazon offers a selection of Chinese e-books through Kindle. With a Kindle app, you can read e-books on any device. At amazon.com, go to Kindle e-books in the menu bar. Go to the Foreign Languages category, and then select Chinese language, which currently has over 4,000 titles. You’ll see many Chinese versions of world classics.

Recommended reads:

“双城记 (shuāng chéng jì — A Tale of Two Cities)” by Charles Dickens — The trials of ordinary people in London and Paris during the 18th century French Revolution. This is a Charles Dickens classic that’s been translated into Chinese.

Loyal Books is a free online library. To find their Chinese e-books, scroll down to see “Languages” listed in the left-hand menu, and then select “Chinese.” Select “e-books” as a filter under the top drop-down menu. Their selection is small, but all of their e-books are free. You can also stream audio versions of books.

All e-books are free to download. In addition to e-books, you can read web articles under 好读专栏 (hǎo dú zhuān lán) or good reads columns.

Recommended reads:

“半生缘 (bàn shēng yuán — Love Story of Half a Lifetime)” by Eileen Chang — Chang is the author of “Lust, Caution” and other famous works. This story speaks of two young lovers who, due to trials and family disapproval, broke up their engagement, only to meet again years later.

“唐人街 (táng rén jiē — Chinatown” by Shuo Ming — Perhaps the earliest book written on the Chinese-American immigrant experience. A man from Fujian province arrives on the American west coast to pan for gold. He opens a small laundry shop, together with the help of his wife and two children.

When you click into any book, detailed information is listed, including where the book is originally from, 来源地 (lái yuán dì)—for example, Hong Kong 香港 (xiāng gǎng)—and the language—for example, 繁體中文 (fán tǐ zhōng wén), which is traditional Chinese.

The section 内容简介 (nèi róng jiǎn jiè) gives a brief introduction of the book and 作者简介 (zuò zhě jiǎn jiè) gives an introduction of the author. If you like the book, go ahead and click the big green button that says 立即购买 (lì jí gòu mǎi) to “Buy Now.”

“時裝．有品 (shí zhuāng yǒu pǐn — Fashion Is Cool” by David Yeung — Fashion designer David Yeung has taught fashion for over 12 years. In this book he shares Hong Kong-based fashion design theory. (Bonus: This book is in Chinese and English, and features interviews of both Chinese and Western designers.)

Project Gutenberg, an online library of e-books, has a small selection of Chinese language e-books. To find them, simply search “Chinese” from the homepage. All e-books are free to download in HTML, EPUB, Kindle and Plain Text formats. Files can also be directly downloaded to your Dropbox, Google Drive or OneDrive account.

“西遊記 (xī yóu jì — Journey to the West)” by Cheng’en Wu —Every Chinese child knows the tale of the monkey king and his band of followers who travel west in search of Buddhist texts. A must-read for students of Chinese culture.

Kobo is a good place to find Chinese textbooks in e-book format. Their selection is not huge, but there are still many useful titles, especially resources for Chinese students. To find them, go to the “Language” category under the left-hand menu, then choose “Chinese.”

When you click into any title, you’ll get a synopsis and reader reviews. You can then click to purchase. Their e-books can be read on desktop, e-readers and tablets (iOS, Android and Windows).

Pubu is a Taiwanese online e-book store. In addition to e-books, you can get e-magazines and e-newspapers. Within the section for e-books, you can see lists of most popular e-books, newest e-books and 超值组合 (chāo zhí zǔ hé) or value sets (save money by buying more books at a time). In addition to synopsis and customer reviews for every book, you’ll also get suggestions for related titles, which is helpful for finding more titles you’ll love.

Prices are listed in Taiwanese dollars, but you can still pay with Visa, MasterCard or Paypal. Currently 33 Taiwanese dollars is equivalent to 1 USD (so a book that costs 180NT is about $5.50).

FluentU brings these native Chinese videos within reach via interactive captions. You can tap on any word to instantly look it up. All words have carefully written definitions and examples that will help you understand how a word is used. Tap to add words you’d like to review to a vocab list.

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